The most useful discovery on this learning journey was del.icio.us. I like sharing websites, and I have discovered many websites using the social component of this tool.
This program has assisted my lifelong learning goals by forcing me to explore and discover tools I have heard of and used a little.
It was very interesting to see how my co-workers used the Web 2.0 tools, and to learn more about them by reading their blogs.
The biggest problem I had was finding time to participate. It took much longer than one hour a week. I did much of the work outside of work hours. My work computer is four years old and very slow.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Overdrive Digital Media Collection
Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite books. My computer is four years old and I don't wish to download programs to it as it is already veeerrrryyy sloooow, so I wasn't able to download or check out a book. Here is a description of fahrenheit 451.
The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires, and he enjoys his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames. He never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid and a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do.
The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires, and he enjoys his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames. He never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid and a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do.
Podcast Directories
I used NPR’s podcast directory to find “Summer Books” recommendations and reviews. I like this site because it talks about books and authors, and you can find out where the authors are touring.
Youtube
Youtube.com is a fun place to share videos. Click here to see the Library Book Cart Drill Team from Austin, TX compete at ALA 2008. I like youtube because it is easy to use and entertaining. Libraries can use Youtube to advertise their programs, or share ideas with other librarians.
This one's for Charlie.
Chaka Chaka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXPU62iIdE
This one's for Charlie.
Chaka Chaka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXPU62iIdE
Web 2.0 Award Winners. Craig's List
Craig's List is a very useful tool. It has local information nationwide. You can find housing, a job, child care, a car, a bike, clothing, household items and a date! All in one convenient place! A friend of mine moved from Michigan to California and used Craig's List to get the things she needed. The founder, Craig Newmark was interviewed by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report.
I like Craig's List because it is easy to use, and safe. I have sold househole items using Craig's List, and so have my friends. It's nice because I was able to find local buyers, so I didn't have to ship my items.
Libraries can advertise programs in the activities section of Craig's List. They can participate in the discussion forums, and talk about books that are available for free at the library!
I like Craig's List because it is easy to use, and safe. I have sold househole items using Craig's List, and so have my friends. It's nice because I was able to find local buyers, so I didn't have to ship my items.
Libraries can advertise programs in the activities section of Craig's List. They can participate in the discussion forums, and talk about books that are available for free at the library!
Zoho Writer
Zoho Writer
The tool bar of Zoho Writer looks a lot like the tool bar of Microsoft Word. You can add tags, and share the documents. You can have several writers collaborating on a document. This would be great for librarians working on projects with others. When you save the document it tells you how many words and characters. The spell check is different than Microsoft Word, but easy to use. The emoticons are cute.
Technorati Tags library,Web,Writer,applications,tools,and,Zoho,2.0,On-line
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
PBCLS Exploring Web 2.0 wiki
It was fun seeing a list of favorite books, movies, TV shows, written by my co-workers. I even received a lot of information about Mangos! My favorite fruit!
It was very easy to add my faves.
Next time I'm dining out, I'll try a suggestion from the favorite restaurant page!
It was very easy to add my faves.
Next time I'm dining out, I'll try a suggestion from the favorite restaurant page!
WIKIS
I noticed that most of the library wikis were academic libraries. Students may be more familiar with wikis in their personal life so using a library wikis would be more intuitive for them than the general public.
It might be wise to have a staff member moderate the wiki to edit out unwanted “graffiti” if everyone had access to the wiki.
Wikis could enable people to write and share book reviews. Others could add their comments on the review (agree/disagree).
The library could announce and people could comment on upcoming library programs. Perhaps people could sign up for programs on a wiki.
Staff wikis could be created to share and store information among and between sections. Perhaps a log for printer problems, or a log of frequently asked questions.
It might be wise to have a staff member moderate the wiki to edit out unwanted “graffiti” if everyone had access to the wiki.
Wikis could enable people to write and share book reviews. Others could add their comments on the review (agree/disagree).
The library could announce and people could comment on upcoming library programs. Perhaps people could sign up for programs on a wiki.
Staff wikis could be created to share and store information among and between sections. Perhaps a log for printer problems, or a log of frequently asked questions.
Library 2.0
Web 2.0 is big news, and people are flocking to libraries to use public computers to be a part of this trend. They expect each staff member to know all the answers to their questions about every single page on the www. If there is an error on a webpage, they often complain to us and expect us to fix it. It takes time and patience to get familiar with all of the offerings on the web. Patrons need to take their time and explore, but that’s difficult when the timer on their internet session is ticking down. I’m glad that we have the opportunity to participate in this Web 2.0 Exploration Project. It has made me feel more comfortable with the technology, and I can better serve our customers.
I will never be an expert. As I learn each new thing, there are several more new things emerging. And the things I have learned are changing. So I will need to constantly work at it to keep up. But I hope I will always take the time to sit down and enjoy a good book.
I will never be an expert. As I learn each new thing, there are several more new things emerging. And the things I have learned are changing. So I will need to constantly work at it to keep up. But I hope I will always take the time to sit down and enjoy a good book.
Technorati
It was easy to get lost as you move deeper and deeper into Technorati. I hit a lot of errors while searching “entertainment”. Technorati has a humorous error page.
I was surprised that I could access a portion of PBCLS Web 2.0 Exploration Project – Participants without a password.
There were too many blogs linked to www.pbclibrary.org to read them all, but I read quite a few. The e-government research blog was helpful, and the Panda blog was cute.
At first I felt that searching by tag was difficult. I wasn’t finding what I was looking for because other people used different meanings for the tags I was searching. Once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed it. I discovered you don’t have to limit your search to one word. By searching “Orson Scott Card” I found some great blogs and videos about the author.
There are over 35,000 posts tagged Web 2.0. Related tags are tags that other people might use to describe the same thing such as “web 2.0” and web-20”, or subsets of the original tag, such as “web 2.0” and “blogging” or “social networking”. I was surprised to discover that most of the links to “web 2.0” were “social networking”.
I was surprised that I could access a portion of PBCLS Web 2.0 Exploration Project – Participants without a password.
There were too many blogs linked to www.pbclibrary.org to read them all, but I read quite a few. The e-government research blog was helpful, and the Panda blog was cute.
At first I felt that searching by tag was difficult. I wasn’t finding what I was looking for because other people used different meanings for the tags I was searching. Once I got the hang of it, I enjoyed it. I discovered you don’t have to limit your search to one word. By searching “Orson Scott Card” I found some great blogs and videos about the author.
There are over 35,000 posts tagged Web 2.0. Related tags are tags that other people might use to describe the same thing such as “web 2.0” and web-20”, or subsets of the original tag, such as “web 2.0” and “blogging” or “social networking”. I was surprised to discover that most of the links to “web 2.0” were “social networking”.
Monday, June 23, 2008
del.icio.us
It was fun to discover what other people had tagged with "library", "librarian" and "web 2.0" on del.icio.us. I created my own account, you can check it out at http://del.icio.us/IAMPlibrary
On blogspot.com I created a blog of websites relating to medical ultrasound and radiolography. I am entering those websites onto my del.icio.us account. This will be much more helpful because the websites will be sortable, not stagnate as they are on blogspot. I am tagging them with "radiology", "ultrasound", "associations", "images", "certifications" and "jobs". Now I can see who else tagged each of these websites, and I can look at what they are saving. They will lead me to more websites on a topic I am interested in
It was easy to do, and now I can access it from anywhere!
On blogspot.com I created a blog of websites relating to medical ultrasound and radiolography. I am entering those websites onto my del.icio.us account. This will be much more helpful because the websites will be sortable, not stagnate as they are on blogspot. I am tagging them with "radiology", "ultrasound", "associations", "images", "certifications" and "jobs". Now I can see who else tagged each of these websites, and I can look at what they are saving. They will lead me to more websites on a topic I am interested in
It was easy to do, and now I can access it from anywhere!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
WebFeat
On WebFeat I was able to find many articles on the current mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick. He has been indicted on several counts of perjury, yet he refuses to resign. He recently appeared at a parade to honor the Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was offering free beer, yet he was stilled booed. Click here to read the article. He has been an embarrassment to the city of Detroit since his inauguration.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Library Thing
I have been using NoveList for many years to organize my lists of “books to read” and “books I have read”. Then I discovered Shelfari where I can share my book lists with my friends.Now I’m using LibraryThing. I’ve only listed a few books, it will take me a long time to transfer all of the books I have read just in the past year!
Daphne de Maurier
Image generators
There are many image generators on the internet to have fun with. I like the “Garbage Pail Kids” one. It reminded me of the 1980’s fun, but the images are too gross to display on this blog site.Introducing the book
olafthemythic gave me this video. He has learned much now that he can open and use books. I hope you enjoy the video.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Really Simple Syndication
RSS Feeds are a great way to have news sorted and digested for you. I added feeds on a wide variety of topics including gardening, humor, news, entertainment and education. This will allow me to keep up on the latest news on these topics without having to search for news myself. This will save time. If the library creates an RSS feed from their website, users will be able to keep up on the latest library news even if they don’t have time to visit our website. This is a way we can reach out to our library users, be where they are, and bring them to us.
Genealogy on the Web
Genealogy on the Web
Since the 1970’s I have been the family historian. Nearly every year I traveled to Minnesota and North Dakota to visit family and have long enjoyable conversations with older members of my family to obtain genealogy information. I spent many pleasant hours walking through cemeteries and obtaining information.
I would spend the rest of the year following up on the information by writing to city clerks offices for birth, death and marriage certificates; writing churches for baptism records; joining historical and genealogy societies in areas where my family had lived; and writing to other family members for more information. This took a lot of time and postage. After the work was done I would neatly type all of the information on heritage charts.
Today, with the use of the internet, the work is not as personal, but much faster and more complete. Census records, public records and genealogy and historical society websites are available online. The heritage carts can be done on the computer using software that allows you to quickly and easily make corrections and store print reports listings a person’s ancestors, descendants, and other pertinent information.
Since the 1970’s I have been the family historian. Nearly every year I traveled to Minnesota and North Dakota to visit family and have long enjoyable conversations with older members of my family to obtain genealogy information. I spent many pleasant hours walking through cemeteries and obtaining information.
I would spend the rest of the year following up on the information by writing to city clerks offices for birth, death and marriage certificates; writing churches for baptism records; joining historical and genealogy societies in areas where my family had lived; and writing to other family members for more information. This took a lot of time and postage. After the work was done I would neatly type all of the information on heritage charts.
Today, with the use of the internet, the work is not as personal, but much faster and more complete. Census records, public records and genealogy and historical society websites are available online. The heritage carts can be done on the computer using software that allows you to quickly and easily make corrections and store print reports listings a person’s ancestors, descendants, and other pertinent information.
Monday, May 19, 2008
BLOGS
The first time I heard of “blogging” was in 1985. I read about it in one of my favorite books, Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. I never imagined it would become so popular. I created my first blog in 2004 when I moved from Michigan to Florida. It was a means to keep in touch with my family and friends.
As librarians we need to embrace technology and use it to reach out to the public. If we don’t get with the times, we will become boring and the public will not view us as useful. We need to be where the public is (on the internet) and guide them to the library. We can have blogs that are interesting and eye catching, and “speak their language”, to hook the public, then bring them to our webpage. Our webpage must be easy to use, modeled after things they are familiar such as amazon.com.
Below is a list of helpful articles:
Saxton, B. Information Tools: Using Blogs, RSS, and Wikis As Professional Resources. Young Adult Library Services v. 6 no. 2 (Winter 2008) p. 27-9
Rempel, H. G., et. al., Infodoodads--Building a New Blog Community. Computers in Libraries v. 28 no. 4 (April 2008) p. 16-21
Barack, L. Pimp Your Library. School Library Journal v. 54 no. 3 (March 2008) p. 27
As librarians we need to embrace technology and use it to reach out to the public. If we don’t get with the times, we will become boring and the public will not view us as useful. We need to be where the public is (on the internet) and guide them to the library. We can have blogs that are interesting and eye catching, and “speak their language”, to hook the public, then bring them to our webpage. Our webpage must be easy to use, modeled after things they are familiar such as amazon.com.
Below is a list of helpful articles:
Saxton, B. Information Tools: Using Blogs, RSS, and Wikis As Professional Resources. Young Adult Library Services v. 6 no. 2 (Winter 2008) p. 27-9
Rempel, H. G., et. al., Infodoodads--Building a New Blog Community. Computers in Libraries v. 28 no. 4 (April 2008) p. 16-21
Barack, L. Pimp Your Library. School Library Journal v. 54 no. 3 (March 2008) p. 27
7 1/2 HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LIFELONG LEARNERS
7 1/2 HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LIFELONG LEARNERS
1. Begin with the end in mind
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning
3. View problems as challenges
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
5. Create your own learning toolbox
6. Use technology to your advantage
7. Teach/mentor others
7 1/2 PLAY!
The habits listed above are practical and useful. They are commonsense guidelines you can use to enrich your life. At different times in our lives we have called on each of them. If we call on them more often and use them on a regular basis we can live more fulfilled lives. I think the most difficult one for me is to begin with the end in mind. Sometimes I enjoy the process so much I don’t focus on the end result. Especially if the process takes a long time.
1. Begin with the end in mind
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning
3. View problems as challenges
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
5. Create your own learning toolbox
6. Use technology to your advantage
7. Teach/mentor others
7 1/2 PLAY!
The habits listed above are practical and useful. They are commonsense guidelines you can use to enrich your life. At different times in our lives we have called on each of them. If we call on them more often and use them on a regular basis we can live more fulfilled lives. I think the most difficult one for me is to begin with the end in mind. Sometimes I enjoy the process so much I don’t focus on the end result. Especially if the process takes a long time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)